In reply to Duder :
I have and that is a great channel. Lots of Grassroots fabrication to be learned from him; welding tips in particular. And yeah...I have made a huge mental note. Chassis swap? No big deal. Engine swap? No big deal. Wheelbase increase? No big deal. All three in a single project. Never again.
Pete
well well well ..............let the party begin....
759NRNG said:well well well ..............let the party begin....
And it has!
Starting to decorate. Or at least try and decorate!
Kind of jumping all over the place at this point. The goal is to sort through the pile of parts and start figuring out where goes where and attaches with what hardware. The goal is to identify what trim goes where, what is missing and what hardware is needed to attach it to the car. THEN the shinny stuff comes off for a visit to the buffing wheel.
The brakes are back! Installed and bled. Happy to report that the lines have been routed to make me happier than the previous itteration.
Since there was still beer in the fridge, might as well make some bling out of scrap metal. See the nice brake line clip in the middle of the run? Fun little one-beer project for when you are done being serious about getting it done.
I know, could have bought it for three bucks, but fun to make this stuff.
Pete
Ooo - Nice! Starting to look like a car again!
In reply to Ian F :
Thanks. Yeah it is starting to look like something Mrs NOHOME might relate to.
Having a bit of trouble getting organized on an order of assembly.There is still a ton of work to do and whatever I start seems to get derailed by something that is missing, like a trim clip or anchor, so I jump to the next thing until that runs into an obstacle and so on!
Pete
Wow, the molvo looks amazing.
aIn reply to NOHOME :
If you still need to sort out the wiring harness, I'd start there first. Then pull it out and wrap it so it's clean and protected. The first physical part I'd install would be the HVAC components. It's amazing how it feels like every manufacturer built car by hanging the HVAC assembly on the production line and building the car around it...
Actually, Mazda did firewall insulation, wiring, carpet, then hvac.
Had to figure that order out on the challenge car.....
Starting to see the color in these pictures. Looks good.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Yeah..pretty much where I am going to start. That said, I am going to take a hard look at not traping the carpet under the HVAC tower. Seems silly to have to dismantle the car to do a carpet.
There is a boatload of work to do, but this quickly starts to look like a real car from here on in.
Pete
Please tell me this wont see a day of winter time driving....
In reply to 759NRNG :
Not in the plans.
But if I could get in in a first snow before the roads are salted parking lot, I would love to drift the thing around for fun. My fear is that it is going to live too sedate of a life because of it's pretty face.
Brake line clips just one more example of attention to detail that well characterizes this build.
Awesome!
Epic shop day today.
Got the engine back where it belongs.
And the other team started on the interior. At this point, I should introduce a fourth member of the team, lets call him "Tow Truck Doug" cause that is what he does. Seems to have adopted the project and been our automotive relocation director of choice. He seems to like the interior stuff and he is fussy, so I will stay out of his way.
Speaking of interior, that can of worms is officially open. Lots of parts flying off the shelves trying to find a home. No real plan yet, just putting stuff in place to see what comes out of it.
The Miata B-pillar plastic clips in as if from the factory. The big challenge is going to be resolving the different colors of parts.
Somewhere somehow wiring needs to co-exist with this stuff, so that has to come out and play sooner rather than later.
Pete
Is the upper rad hose kinked?
In reply to AngryCorvair :
I will check, but most likely just how it was folded while out of the car.
The 1800 was sold with a tan interior similar in color to the Mazda. I don't remember if it was offered for the '72/73 style door cards, though. The '71 and earlier door cards are functionally the same, they just use a different handle. Personally, I like the earlier handle operation better, so that is what I plan to do with my car. You do lose the door pockets, if that is a concern:
If there is any way you can think of to improve the window seal to the body, let me know. It tends to leak like a SOB when driving in the rain. And the door glass seals aren't great either, so make sure the drains in the bottom of the doors are good and clear.
The floor carpet looks to be a different colour from the wall carpet. The floor is NB stuff , is all the other Miata stuff NA? I think I still have the NB B-pillar plastic from the NB car. I know I threw the wall carpet and parcel shelf stuff away after you said you didn't need it. You may get more homogenous colour if you find all the bits from one model year of Miata.
In reply to Ian F :
I do like the earlier door pulls and wish I had a set, but not enough to want to spend time and money at this point in the game.
The door pockets are a negative in my book, but they do convey ""Volvo" so will most likely stay.
The leaky window to body-seal are a new concern as I was not expecting this to be a thing. Sine the door istself is double sealed I expected that this was a n area that was given some thought at the design stage. I do know that old cars in general have sind noise and fits that would not be acceptable in a modern car. Wet weather driving has been a concern since the start of the project. I will keep you posted on what I find.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
Yeah, after a rainy drive, the floor behind the seats would be soaked. I've pondered trying to retrofit a more modern seal design (new MINI doors are also have frameless windows). The trick is most newer cars have power windows with a "drop when opening" function that is necessary for the seal to work well. I'm not sure how to retrofit that action into an old car.
Lots of slightly older cars with frameless windows that don't leak. My Subaru doesn't. First gen Neon that didn't.
In reply to DeadSkunk :
The carpet is the one you dropped off. And there is the matching bulkhead piece.
I think I have various carpet pieces from two and a half Miatas. The guys were busy yanking anything that looked like interior off the shelf and trying to get an idea of how to make it all work together.
I have kits to re-upholter the seats and the color is shown below from his website. This will become the fixed variable around which the rest of the interior had to resolve.
I am guessing that a few cans of vinylkote will be consumed before this is all done. The interior is still very much a work in process, so stand by and see what comes out!
I have used the leather / vinyl colorant and other refinishing materials from the Furniture Clinic. I have been very impressed with the durability of the completed finish. They have a wide selection of stock colors from European auto manufacturers available and they have a selection of stock colors you can mix for a custom color.
I think I remember that they are able to match a color swatch that you provide them.
In reply to CJ :
Thanks, that would be a huge help if they can match a sample of the seat material. I bought extra so I can send a sample.
Tonight was a start on the wiring. It would be sooooo simple to jam a hot rod harness in there, but I prefer to get the Miata harness to work.
Pete
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